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Manchester City will have to plan without Jeremy Doku as they set about closing the gap to Arsenal in the Premier League.
Jeremy Doku is not expected back until the New Year with the injury he picked up last week. The Manchester City winger missed the Crystal Palace win with the problem and will be sidelined for a few weeks.
Pep Guardiola suggested that Doku could be back in time for the trip to face Sunderland on January 1 so the issue is not thought to be too serious. However, the manager is already planning to be without him for upcoming matches against Brentford, West Ham and Nottingham Forest.
Doku has enjoyed his best season to date for City, producing three goals and five assists and starting nine of the last ten games before his injury. He has had some trouble with muscle injuries in his career and will hope that he can shrug off the latest problem.
In his absence at Selhurst Park, it was Tijjani Reijnders who got the nod to come into the starting XI with Phil Foden and Rayan Cherki pushing wide. Cherki drifted in from the wing to tee up Foden for the second goal as City picked up an important win.
Victory was sealed from the penalty spot in injury time after a speedy dart into the box from substitute Savinho. The Brazilian has only started two of the last ten games - one of those being the dismal Champions League defeat to Leverkusen - and will be another hoping to step up in Doku’s absence.
"There was an action in Fulham when Savinho went and crossed for Erling to head onto the post and continued, and he didn't run back. He was there, and I told him. Today he lost one or two balls and in two seconds he was a full-back," Guardiola said after the Sunderland game.
"Savinho is going to play a lot of minutes. They know the secret of the team and after the quality of Savinho and the quality of Rayan I don't care, but they have to do the things to make the team stable and try and try. That's why Bernardo runs all the time, and Phil runs all the time, and Jeremy is improving a lot. That is the key.
"Today, I was incredibly pleased for the 15-20 minutes of Savinho. Two actions where he lost the ball he was a machine. He doesn't like to listen but I had to tell him. Because the incredible cross [at Fulham] could have been 6-2 or 6-3 but we lost the ball and you have to work. You come from the bench, you have to run double because the other guys are tired.
"Today he has done it three times like a machine. Savinho is going to play a lot of minutes. He's going to play with us."
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